Garnett: This Bill is About Saving Lives

(May 2) – Majority
Leader Alec Garnett, D-Denver, released the following statement in response to
reports of a lawsuit being filed against the life-saving Extreme Risk
Protection Order Law, HB19-1177: the Deputy Zackari Parrish III Violence
Prevention Act.

“This bill is about
saving lives. We recently lived through a situation in Colorado where someone
who was a risk to themselves or others shut down our schools, and it was a
critical example of why we need the Extreme Risk Protection Order law in
Colorado,” said Majority Leader
Garnett. “This is not about what happened during the debate–this is about
the gun lobby trying to unwind a popular measure to help save and protect lives
in Colorado. Throughout the entire debate, no
one approached me about the issue they are raising in their lawsuit. We
have been extremely respectful of the rights of the minority party and this
bill was respectfully debated in the House.”

Despite claims during
the lawsuit announcement that the majority party failed to read the bill at
length, the bill was indeed read at length when the motion was properly made
until the motion was withdrawn by the requestor, in accordance with the rules
of the Legislature. The state legislature debated HB19-1177 for nearly 44 hours
according to internal calculations.

Rep. Tom Sullivan is a
co-prime sponsor of the bill. His son Alex was murdered in the 2012 Aurora
theater shooting on his twenty-seventh birthday. Rep. Sullivan wears Alex’s
jacket every day and wore it during the course of the debate in the House.

This life-saving new law signed by Gov. Polis on April 12 will provide a critical tool to
help prevent gun violence and suicide and protect families and first
responders. The legislation has been in the works for over a year and includes
input from law enforcement, the mental health community, advocates for gun
violence prevention, and elected officials on both sides of the aisle.

Through HB19-1177,
family members or law enforcement can petition a judge for an Extreme Risk
Protection Order (ERPO) for someone who is a significant risk to themselves or
others. If approved, a temporary order would be placed for up to two weeks and
the court would hold a hearing to determine whether there are sufficient
grounds for an ERPO. During this hearing, respondents will be provided with
legal counsel at no cost to ensure due process rights are protected. If the
judge determines, by a clear and convincing evidence standard, that the
respondent poses a significant risk of causing personal injury to themselves or
others, the protection order may be approved for 364 days. The respondent can
also request to have the order terminated at any point during that time period.

Attorney General Phil
Weiser submitted a letter and testified in support of the legislation. Former
U.S. Attorney John Walsh explained to the committee during the hearing how the
bill is legal under the Second, Fourth, and Fifth Amendments to the U.S.
Constitution. Members of law enforcement, gun owners, and survivors of gun
violence testified for hours during House and Senate committee hearings in
support of the bill. Fourteen states have enacted bipartisan ERPO laws.